Mexican drug cartel Jalisco New Generation flexes muscles

The shell of a torched passenger bus is parked on the side of a road after it was extinguished by firefighters in Guadalajara, Mexico, Friday, May 1, 2015. Authorities in western Mexico are asking residents to stay at home as they scramble to extinguish burning vehicles blocking roads in various parts of Guadalajara. Such blockades are a common cartel response to the arrest of important members or are used to foil police and military operations.

MEXICO CITY — Political analysts say the increasingly powerful Mexican drug cartel known as Jalisco New Generation was showing off its muscles in a spasm of violence that killed seven people and forced down a military helicopter in western Mexico.

Jalisco state is relatively calm Saturday after the previous day saw gunmen set fire to cars, buses, banks and gasoline stations and trade gunfire with soldiers and police. State authorities remain on alert in and around Jalisco's capital of Guadalajara, with heavy police patrols and fewer people than usual on the streets.

The U.S. consulate in Guadalajara on Friday urged American citizens in the area to remain indoors. It says on its website Saturday that the situation in the region is now "under control," but warns that clashes could flare up again.